Netgear Router Dropping Connection? Try this.

This is how I fixed the same problem – 3 years apart – with two Netgear routers constantly disconnecting intermittently. It is a revised version of my original 2012 post to include updated info from 2015.

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Netgear Router Disconnecting: 2012 and 2015

After purchasing a new Netgear N300 (WNR2000v3) wireless router from a local Best Buy store in May 2012, it seemed to work fine at first, but then I started noticing connection issues shortly thereafter. I was getting disconnected anywhere from once a day to several times an hour.

After my first wave of intermittent disconnects – and tinkering with the router settings – I took it back to Best Buy to explain the problem to them. They merely told me to exchange it for a new one, which I did. Only a couple of hours after installing the new one, I found myself disconnecting yet again. The router’s exterior display showed no issues, but all of the devices in my network were offline. The only way I could seem to get back online was to unplug it and plug it back in.

Realizing that it was more than a coincidence that two N300 routers would have identical connection issues, I decided to hit Google and see what I could find. As it turns out, the firmware pre-loaded onto the router was spotty. My router’s firmware version was V1.1.1.58. When I Googled that exact firmware version, it was immediately apparent that this version was the culprit. I updated to V1.1.1.72 and the connection issue disappeared. For a while – and then it reappeared.

Eventually I had to downgrade the firmware to a version earlier than the version pre-installed version on the router.

Fortunately, downgrading the firmware is just as simple as upgrading.

This is where you can check your Netgear router’s firmware version. V1.1.1.58 may be causing issues.

Go into the router’s management by pointing your web browesr to routerlogin.net. By the way, if you can’t access it (which happened to me), you may need to restart your router first. The screen you see after logging in will show your router version at the top right. You will probably have 1.1.1.58. That won’t work. Neither will the version it wants you to install, which is 1.1.1.72.

Best Buy had lots of boxes of Netgear N300 routers – perhaps more than any other at my local store. It would be a safe assumption that all of those are preinstalled with the faulty V1.1.1.58 firmware, and everyone purchasing those routers could potentially have this problem.

To downgrade your Netgear firmware, go here. Look for the original firmware version WNR2000v3 Initial Release Firmware Version 1.0.1.26 which is what you want to install.

Click the link and download the software. They recommend updating over a wired connection, which I did.

Log in to routerlogin.net and go into the “Advanced” tab. You’ll find an option to upgrade firmware (even though we’re technically downgrading). You will be prompted to navigate to the .26 version you just downloaded. At this point, the installation is automatic, and you should have the original .26 version installed.

One final step – do not ignore this part! You will be prompted to restart your router only if there is an error. Because I had no error, I didn’t restart my router – and found myself disconnecting again. I pushed the button on the back of the router to power it on and then power it off… and my disconnecting issue disappeared. I’m not sure why that final step is necessary, but it seemed to make a difference for me.

2015: History Repeated

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Three years later, when it came time to update to a newer router, I had almost forgotten about the problems cited above – and opted for another Netgear router, model R6250. Almost immediately I felt like it was 2012 all over again, with spotty connectivity and constant disconnects. Ironically, when I Googled the problem, I ran across this article from 2012 and it occurred to me that the same solution of downgrading firmware just might work.

And I was right.

On my first attempt, I tried downgrading to version 1.0.1.84, and have not had a problem since. Lazily, I didn’t use a wired connection to downgrade this time, and – perhaps luckily – had no problems.

Fortunately, there are many R6250 firmware versions to be found on Netgear’s website, and hopefully one of those may work for you.

You can follow the same instructions as shown above to downgrade firmware: Go to routerlogin.net with a username of admin and a password of password.

Bottom Line

In 2012 and in 2015, I purchased Netgear routers which both began experiencing intermittant disconnection problems. In both cases, I was able to solve the problem by downgrading the firmware to an earlier version.

I should also note that my 2012 router is still in use in another location – with the downgraded firmware still working like a champ.

Let me know if this worked for you, or if you had any other problems with this router.

Thank you for this information! I worked on this problem for weeks and tried everything listed here to no avail. But downgrading the firmware so far has done the trick–5 days now with no disconnection! THANK YOU!

Angela Ramey

I have a Netgear N300 and have been having the same problem. So far, the only thing that has lasted for more then a few hours was a total reboot of the router and not allowing it to update to the current firewall. It has worked so far but I am not sure if it will work for long.

Kjell Inge Sandvik

I had a Netgear router until last week. I then gave up and bought another brand. The problem with downgrading firmware is that some ISP’s won’t allow you to run outdated firmware on your router. If so – the will cut your signal! That happened to me, and all problems started when I upgraded. I got lot of good support from Netgear (and also a beta firmware not yet published), but nothing seemed to work. After 2,5 months of support, I couldn’t wait any longer and bought a new one.

Kathleen Daugherty

Intermittent dropped signal problem: Purchased Netgear N900 wireless Dual Band Router at Best Buy one month ago, routing signal to two computers (work frm home, one computer is my connection to the office, other my design work) and blueray internet TV for the house. 6-7 phone calls later to my cable provider, plugging in, replugging, shutting down, starting up, resetting, re plugging, changing IP address, plugging direct to router, plugging direct to modem (you’re starting to get the picture)Is it cable?? Is it Netgear? 4 different diagnoses over almost 2 weeks and countless lost hours of work (including “too much neighborhood wifi congestion on my street”, need to download a wifi analyzer app, check your potential interference frm your neighbor’s wifi, change your frequency. All a waste of @### time!!! STOP… Check your cable TV …if internet is down and TV is on it isn’t the feed to the house (more than likely). It’s the Netgear router! Do yourself a favor right away … solution is … call your cable immediately and tell them you want a modem with the built-in router! (of course they never suggested that this might be the fix, I had to bring it up) Eliminate the finger pointing between Netgear and your cable provider and then insist the cable company fix the connectivity/drop signal problem!!! Worked for me. I pay them to provide me and my business/household with internet connectivity and I am over plugging, replugging, updating firmwhare, rerouting whatever!! Problem seems to be solved now (cable co just left and I am up and running!) So back to work. I will keep you posted. But I think I have finally solved my problem.

emma j austen

I am having problems with this router (bought in 12/2012) always resetting IP address and with disconnecting. It is a poor product and should be recalled. I am considering filing a complaint with the BBB. This is not acceptable to a consumer. I have been dealing with this issue for over a year now, and will need to repurchase. Don’t buy if you are reading this comment!

judy

Thank you so much. I’ve been struggling for over a week with getting bounced off the internet 3 and 4 times a day with my Netgear router. Your “fix” seems to have worked, going back and downloading the old firmware. I too had to “drag” the download out of the zip file to make it download. I called Netgear and of course they never told me this. I’ve been online a whole day!

Matt

Thanks for the tips! Had an older Netgear 300, wrn2000v.3 that would disconnect me every couple of hours without warning. All “go” lights still on on the router front. Nothing obvious except my puter could no longer “see” the router/network.

Took your advice and downloaded the old .26 firmware (was running 1.1.2.2 that came loaded on the router), & restarted. Seems to be working fine; we’ll see if it bounces me again today or tomorrow (in which case a power on/off reset it and recovered access).

Incidentally, for those having issues installing the new (old) firmware, see other’s comments above regarding opening (extracting the two files) from the zipped file and resaving them (I put them in my downloads folder). Then just browse in your Netgear Advanced settings to install the new firmware, and browse and select the new “.img” or “.ing” file (I forget the suffix), and voila, it’s installed.

Glad it helped! It’s hard to believe that this is still a problem nearly two years after this article was posted!

Don Jiffy

User name is admin
password is password
Unless you have a used unit where the user name and password were changed.

Dan

Thanks for the comments. My problem (I scanned the messages here, but did not find an answer) is that I cannot log into routerlogin.net. I’m not sure if I have the wrong information or something else is wrong? I bought the router online from a company I’ve used, and enjoyed using, in the past, but this time it came without any packaging. Any able to tell me where I could find the username and password?

b griff

I have this problem too. The router used to kick us off in the past mysteriously stopped when I moved it to another room. It has worked flawlessly until recently. All I did was try to add open dns to the router settings to provide a better internet filter for my children. Open dns didn’t work right so I changed settings back to the way they were. Now we loose signal off and on several times a day. I too upgraded firmware to latest and it didn’t fix problem. Could this problem be in any way related to the order in which you turn on the components?

G Smith

I am having a problem starting today with the router dropping internet connection every few minutes. Have N300 series WNR2000v3 and it is just 17 months old! My last router lasted 4 years and was used way more than this router. Cable company was helpful in trouble shooting cause, but still not sure whether they are not also part of the cause. Always so hard to tell since noone would say if they have changed any part of the system that could cause problems. Called Netgear and all they want are $$, not sure if any othr router company is any different. I also have the latest firmware 1.1.2.6. I just tried to reconnect to the internet and test the connection from within routerlogin.net and is working now for the time being so hope this will help. Otherwise will have to connect my computers directly to the internet modem if this continues until I can find a new router. Seems like the routers are not made to last longer than a year. I have friends who bought very expensive routers and they too have given trouble after awhile. There has to be a better system.

Dan

I upgraded firmware (Thanks Brett for login info) and still have had wireless drop several times. I have also tried selecting a specific channel rather than leaving selection as Auto….This did not work either.

Very frustrating………….

Brett

Went to routerlogin.net and downloaded the driver. So far so good… nothing has been kicked off… admin is login and password is password. Xbox does seem to be slowed and frozen online however.

Dan

I am having trouble getting beyond the UserId and password screen. I do not recall creating a userid…….I see that the password is “password”

thanks

Lorna

Thanks- I have been having this problem as well. it’s been making me nuts. I am giving your solution a shot and will see what happens- thanks for your post!

Jonathan

I was about to “downgrade” my firmware as outlined in this article, but noticed that there was new firmware, version 1.1.2.6 (not sure the date of this firmware), so decided to try first to see if it fixed the problem before I did the “downgrade”. So far the latest firmware update seems to have fixed the problem. Before, whenever I streamed video, it would pause almost every few minutes and since the update, I’ve been streaming without any pauses at all. Time will tell.

googull

I recently purchased the R4500. Lots of drop outs that I finally sorted out. I put switch on any of the LAN ports and a notebook on any other LAN port. When I start a large file copy of multimedia content between the notebook and a NAS hanging off the switch ALL the other devices on the switch go dark. Meaning, my Wifi devices can no longer see any of them. As soon as the file copy is paused or halted all the devices reappear. No trouble with file copy of smaller files and non-multimedia files but when multimedia files are copied all the devices on the switch don’t even show up in the Attached Devices section on the Router and reappear just as fast when the copy is halted. I checked the QOS settings which are all disabled. WD has been trying to add value with multimedia streaming priority over Wifi and I suspect it may not have been well tested. This could certainly be a possible cause for making WIFI connections appear to come and go through the day.

Howard

I am not buying any Netgear products after this. They sold a faulty product and tried to signed me up for a $200 technical support agreement. What a double scam.

joeb

I’ve downloaded wnr2000v3 1.0.1.26 firmware several times and get the following message when I attempt to upload – Firmware file is incorrect. Please get the firmware again and make sure it is correct.
If you have been successful in accomplishing installing the back level firmware would you be able to send me a copy?

CSeman

Netgear is great…but the $120.00 dollars for support is ungodly since I purchased a WND3400v2 which was $95.00 brand new and my warranty ran out a while back. This post was very helpful…so hopefully a roll back of the latest update will do the trick!